


School Afternoons

by BeeJooheony



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Slow Burn, like it's pretty slow burn imo so be warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-11-14 05:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11201001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeeJooheony/pseuds/BeeJooheony
Summary: Hyungwon Chae and his family have recently moved to the United States from South Korea, and although he has studied English for three years and checked his schedule for his new high school about 37 times, he is still nervous to actually talk to people and, the most nerve-wrecking part, make friends. But in his third period, American-born Korean Hoseok Shin catches his interest enough that Hyungwon seems almost excited about school. And with Hyungwon's classmates and colleagues including always-positive Minhyuk, class clown Jooheon, young prodigy Changkyun, mom friend Kihyun, and class representative Shownu, things can get a little crazy![Crossposted on Wattpad]





	1. Prologue

Hyungwon was ready.

Almost ready for everything.

Like, he was pretty sure he was ready for everything.

After unfortunately only four hours of proper sleep (because he was extremely nervous of the few days coming), he had gotten up and picked an outfit that wouldn't make him stand out more than he already would...

... packed his backpack with the supplies that he would find appropriate for his classes, and then packed his backpack with the extra supplies that he would find appropriate for his classes, just in case he miraculously lost a supply or two...

... skimmed over his Korean-to-English dictionary and practice book to review, all while using Google Translate to kind of help Hyungwon with the super tricky words and phrases...

... walked to the kitchen to get some leftover kimbap from the refrigerator, only to realize, while staring at the stove top's clock, that it was three o'clock.

Three o'clock in the morning or three o'clock in the afternoon, sleep-deprived Hyungwon wasn't really sure for a few seconds.

But soon enough, he heard footsteps through the hallway from his parents' master bedroom, and eventually he saw his mom in the kitchen doorway. She had a perplexed face, and since a few seconds had passed by already, Hyungwon came to realize the awkward, stressed, nervous mess he looked like.

Hyungwon stumbled a bit away from the refrigerator, the plate of kimbap remaining in his hand. "Um..." He started to scratch the back of his head. "J-Jesong...hamnida, mama."

His mom put on a soft smile (Hyungwon had thought that she had giggled a little) and moved to him in soft, small steps. She reached where Hyungwon was standing, put her arms around him, and the warm and loving embrace that she gave him showed enough forgiveness from her to lower Hyungwon's high anxiety levels.

"Are you stressed about your new school, Hyungwon-a?" his mom said. Along with Hyungwon's ongoing preparation to speak English to American peers and elders, his mom and dad had helped by communicating in English. He had never thought he excelled past his parents' level of speaking English, but the whole family shared the strong Korean accent that passed through their spoken words. His mom's English always calmed his nerves though, coming from a soothing and familiar voice.

"N-no," Hyungwon stammered, "Well... maybe a little bit."

He was actually stressed a lot, but he assumed that his mom figured that out already.

"It will be fine, Hyungwon. There's a lot of Koreans to speak with in this area. Some might even be from Korea, just like you."

"Eomma... I know that..."

"Is there something else bothering you then, Hyungwon?"

"No, I'm okay," he replied, maybe a little too fast. It wasn't really the truth, but he didn't want to worry his mom... at three in the morning. "I just don't want to be late. On my first day, especially, I don't want to be late."

His mom let go of him slowly, and stretched a little bit. Hyungwon had thought the hug was a little uncomfortable for her, since he was tall enough to tower over his mom and reach the height of his dad.

"Dad and I will wake you up, remember?" His mom said, walking away from him and back toward her and Dad's bedroom. "Hyungwon-a, you'll do fine. You might be even smarter than all of the other kids in all of your classes, honey."

Hyungwon laughed to himself. His mom's true, competitive nature was finally showing, even this early in the morning.

"Okay, eomma. Annyeonghee joomooseyo," he added.

"Joheun achimieyo, Hyungwon-a." his mom replied, a little muffled from the distance between them.

"Oh. Yeah, that." Hyungwon replied back.

He sighed. Tomorrow was going to probably be the longest day of his life.

But he was going to sleep as soon as possible and wake up just the moment his parents called him...

His eyes moved down to the plate of kimbap in his hand.

...after he finished the plate of kimbap.

After all, he didn't want it to spoil.


	2. Chapter 1 - Chemistry

Hyungwon was late.

Well, not actually late, but it was close enough to actually being late.

Everything had been perfectly fine before! He had gone to sleep after eating that leftover plate of kimbap, slept for another four hours, woke up at a reasonable time...

...then realizing it wasn't a reasonable time to wake up at all when he saw that his alarm said seven forty-five.

School started at eight fifteen.

It took about thirty minutes to walk to school.

Assuming there wasn't any bad traffic or car accidents or anything remotely stressful, it took about thirty minutes to go to school.

So there he was, Hyungwon Chae, seemingly running for his life on the sidewalks as fast as his long, long legs could carry him. Granted he knew where to go; he had walked over a few times to try and memorize the path and also printed the map and directions beforehand. The only obstacle that could get in his way of knowing where to go is either a) people go out of their way to give him wrong directions or b) Hyungwon gets his by a runaway bus and develops amnesia.

The latter actually seemed more possible than the former, however, because wherever Hyungwon looked, there were too many cars. Too many.

Too many to clog the traffic, too many to get into accidents, and too many to hit Hyungwon and make him develop amnesia.

He stopped at the nearest pedestrian crossing to give his legs and lungs a breather. Pressing the button to inform the light about someone crossing the street, Hyungwon looked at his directions sheet and checked the time. It was eight four, and he only has to go on one more straight, long sidewalk to get to the building. Then, he would have to go through the front door, go upstairs, find the 2500 hallway, and find Mrs. Gold's classroom.

He glimpsed at the traffic light beside him and saw that cars were slowing down, and that his slim chance to sprint to school on time would soon come. And when the walking signal blinked to life in front of Hyungwon, that's when he ran.

He wasn't running as fast as he was at the beginning, but eventually he saw the school's silhouette getting bigger and bigger. Hyungwon felt a bead of sweat run down his forehead and in that moment he hoped that no one in his first period would notice how nervous and tired he would be.

He finally reached the sidewalk on the school's property, and Hyungwon silently gulped at the sight of no one there. But he didn't let his anxiety get the best of him this time, so he decided to hold his arms out in front of him and try to run through the front doors. He quickly realized however that these doors were supposed to be pulled instead of pushed, whilst colliding with the doors a bit before grabbing the handles and properly opening them.

He ran up the nearest and biggest staircase he saw, slowing down a bit in the middle of the stairs to catch his breath. A few feet in front of him stood a boy his age, a student, holding one of the straps of his backpack on his shoulder and walking a little too slowly for Hyungwon's current situation.

Hyungwon moved to the right of the student (whose red hair was bright enough to catch his eye a bit), and successfully managed to quickly climb up the stairs and proceed to find his first period classroom.

He heard the student previously in front of him yell something on the lines of "Hurry on up there!" and "You can do it, buddy!" while cackling a lot in between and after uttering those words of support to Hyungwon. He felt comforted by the encouragement, smiled a bit, and tried to wave his hand to show that he acknowledged the red-haired student, but Hyungwon was also about fifty percent sure he didn't see it.

He continued running through the hallway, and eventually turned right when he saw the sign signalling where his classroom should approximately be. He ran down halfway through the supposed 2500 hallway, but then realized that the room number of his chemistry class he saw right at the beginning of the hallway entrance.

Turning back and sprinting back to the entrance of the hallway, he finally entered the right classroom, making a noisy entrance when trying to turn the doorknob correctly to even properly open the door.

Breathing heavily, he leaned his hand on the closest table next to him while throwing his backpack onto the floor. He caught a few of the gazes on him, and heard a few quiet snickers throughout the class. He didn't mind that much though, as the bell starting class finally rang and confirmed that he had arrived on time. Hyungwon slowly started to kneel to the floor, making a lot of other students in the back stand up a bit to see what he was doing.

"...H-Hello, Mrs. Gold," Hyungwon stuttered out, hopefully loud enough for the teacher to hear. He hated his accent, but stood up quickly and continued to greet Mrs. gold with a bow. "I'm Ch-Hyungwon Chae, and I'm your new student here. I'm sorry to-"

The door cracked open behind Hyungwon, hitting him in the back hard enough to knock him forward. He leaned his hand on the table again to keep him from falling, and turned to see who had come.

The same red-head who he had seen earlier had returned, but Hyungwon thought that he was unnecessarily happy for being late.

"Ooh, sorry!" the red-head quickly replied, entering the room carefully, and helping Hyungwon stand up properly. He turned to the teacher and smiled. "Hi, Mrs. Gold! How are you-u-u today?" he greeted, accentuating the "you" and waving a little bit.

The teacher grimaced a little similar to if she had eaten some spoiled kimbap. "Hi, Jooheon," she started, "Aren't you supposed to have a tardy slip with you?"

The red-head's, Jooheon's, as Hyungwon had just learned, smile withered a bit, and he backed up even closer to the door and leaned on the nearest table some. "Well.... you see, I was waiting for the-"

The bell suddenly rang again, startling Hyungwon a little too much, and resulting in Jooheon snickering at his clumsiness. There were a few taps of noise that came from the classroom's speaker. Then after a few seconds of silence, a voice, that Hyungwon assumed was the principal's, announced something.

"Attention teachers and staff," the voice boomed over the loudspeaker, "Please let all students into your first period without a tardy."

Hyungwon turned to stare at Jooheon's annoyingly confident smirk, which he assumed was directed at the teacher.

"Again, please let all students into your first period without a tardy."

After the repeating of the statement, the loudspeaker shut off immediately. There were a few giggles in the class that Hyungwon heard, probably because of the major irony that Jooheon's situation resulted in.

Hyungwon stood up and properly turned to Jooheon. "Why-"

Jooheon seemingly smirked even more. "The buses always run late, which means there's usually a ton of kids absent, which means they have to let those kids in without tardies, which usually means they have to let every kid in without tardies," Jooheon whispered to Hyungwon. He went in closer to Hyungwon to whisper something even quieter. "You just have to see online where the traffic is backed up and how long it's gonna be backed up, and then you work from there." Hyungwon noted that Jooheon was talking fast to him, probably not to stall the class any longer than he already had.

After having a quiet moment with Hyungwon for a few seconds, Jooheon quickly straighten up and shuffled to his seat. The teacher glared at him the whole time, but Hyungwon saw that she didn't seem too angry, and didn't even propose to offer a detention. Maybe Jooheon didn't do anything bad too often and Mrs. Gold let it slide. Maybe he teasingly bothered her too much that she was on the verge of giving up on him. Hyungwon, despite Jooheon's kindness to him, assumed that the latter would be most likely.

Mrs. Gold, after glaring at Jooheon and making sure he gets into his seat, turned to Hyungwon and sweetly smiled, making Hyungwon's nerves settle for about the third time this morning. "U-Um," Hyungwon started, "Where do I sit?"

"Oh, you can sit right over there by Priya at that lab table behind that row of tables. Raise your hand, Priya, would you?" Hyungwon turned to where the teacher directed, and saw a petite, curly-haired girl softly waving her hand in the air. He moved toward the lab table and sat next to the girl, letting his backpack leave his shoulder and fall to the floor. She greeted him with a smile, and he softly smiled back.

He heard Jooheon laugh over right next to him at his own table, so Hyungwon realized that probably everyone could see how awkward his was just in his first morning of school. A couple of students had entered the room, probably from the bus, and that was the teacher's cue to move to the front and center of the class and start today's lesson. Hyungwon sighed softly to release some of the tension in his mind, and Priya offered to pat him on the back in sympathy.

This day was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woot woot for the second chapter! and jooheon enters!!


	3. Chapter 2 - Inside Jokes

Hyungwon felt better after the lesson had actually started.

He was surprised that he felt better staying in the class than leaving the class after the instant rush of panic and pain that was his morning.

When class started, the teacher must have realized how emotionally overwhelmed Hyungwon was, so she was nice enough not to attract anymore attention than needed, which Hyungwon greatly appreciated. And today wasn't stressful in the case of the school work itself.

Priya told him that at the beginning of a unit, which they were at now, they would get a packet to work on to get a brief introduction of the unit. The day afterwards would be when Mrs. Gold gives a more in-depth, but still brief, introductory lesson to clear up any questions or confusion from the packet. The whole purpose of this method, Hyungwon thought, is that it would help students develop the sense of learning how to solve problems or answer questions by themselves, and Hyungwon could wrap his mind around that idea of how it would add more challenge to the class.

But since Hyungwon enrolled later into the year, he hadn't gotten the chance to go over the basics of chemistry from the first unit to be able to accurately and correctly get through the packet from the second unit. Not to mention that the packet had a bit of reading to get through, which Hyungwon could read decently, but all of the English chemistry terms in the packet made his overall reading experience in America seemingly more terrible.

Jooheon had offered some help though, which Hyungwon appreciated. He soon realized, though, that Jooheon, though generous, could be a little too loud and distracting for the general public. Hyungwon had looked over at his lab partner a few times, seeing how she seemed to shrink a little bit every time Jooheon shouted "Jooheon" when he and/or the group figured out an answer to a question, which was fairly often.

Even Jooheon's partner seemed a little irritated if he shouted "Jooheon" a little louder than appropriate in a 30-student classroom.

Regardless, all four of them finished and turned in the packet with a few minutes left to spare, and Hyungwon did get useful information with the other three in the group helping him with the laws and formulas. Jooheon had even went out of his way to translate most of the English chemistry terms into Korean when he could and showed Hyungwon some easy ways, along with the rest of the group, to remember the terms.

Hyungwon ended up being a little flattered and flustered at Jooheon's specific method of help. Although Jooheon helped immensely, him communicating with Hyungwon one-on-one like that felt too familiar and personal for people that just met about an hour ago. However, he realized he was in America now. Other Koreans are one of the keys to actually communicate normally without the stress of stumbling on his words or saying something he didn't know the meaning of. Hyungwon had decided overall that it was a nice gesture, so he was sure he would remember to give thanks and apologize to him later.

The bell rang, and Hyungwon officially left the classroom, schedule ready in hand. Following the crowd outwards, he tried scanning for his second period, which should have been in the 2400 hallway, that should have been extremely close to the 2500 hallway he was just in. Hyungwon noticed that his nerves had calmed down sufficiently, and that he shouldn't worry that much bad would happen to him. That was until a hand fell down on his shoulder from behind him, and he practically jumped out of his skin with an accompanying yelp.

He turned to his right, and the familiar red hair from before had enveloped into his peripheral, with Hyungwon quickly realizing it was the loud, Korean angel that helped him avoid being more of an embarrassment in class that he would have been otherwise.

"Oops, sorry," Jooheon muttered from beside him, catching up to Hyungwon to talk side-by-side. "I didn't mean to scare you again, Hyung!" A few moments of silence passed. "That... is your name, right?" he said, tilting his head a little bit as he questioned so.

Hyungwon tried to make eye contact with him, but his head instead remained leaning near the direction of the floor. "It's Hyungwon, yeah." Hyungwon tried to strengthen his posture a little bit. "And it's fine."

He noticed a sparkle in Jooheon's eye form, while a grin quickly replaced the disoriented expression previously on his visage. "Oh, alright! I'm glad we're cool, man," Jooheon said lightly punching Hyungwon on his shoulder. He quickly leaned near Hyungwon, trying to read his schedule.

"You have algebra next, right?" Jooheon stated, moving away from Hyungwon's space back into his own. "I think that's my room, too! I can totally lead the way." The red-head's excitement transferred over to Hyungwon, the realization of not being completely alone next period quickly sinking in. His worry again soon surfaced back up when Jooheon, after their long walk together supposedly to second period, suddenly paused right before the stairs, quickly blocking a few other students' paths.

"Are you okay?" Hyungwon asked, moving ahead so he could face Jooheon properly. "What's wrong?"

Jooheon looked up at Hyungwon. Hyungwon at that moment realized that Jooheon was actually pretty short for a 10th-grade male.

"The algebra class you have is in the 2400 hallway, right?" Jooheon questioned, mostly asking himself to start turning the gears in his own head of what could have possibly gone wrong.

Hyungwon glanced at the schedule. "2415," Hyungwon read. "Yeah, that should be... Mr... Ganley?" He questioned, perhaps worrying about his pronunciation being butchered too much for the current situation.

"Yeah, that's the teacher I have," Jooheon stated, nodding his head in confirmation. Jooheon's face was filled with concentration, then realization seemingly struck the red-head with surprise. "How did we end up here...?"

Hyungwon started, but ended up trailing off when the reality of the situation sunk in. "What do you... mean-?"

The reality of the situation sunk in.

Hyungwon and Jooheon looked face-to-face, both with anxiety splattered on their expressions, looked back where they came from, and immediately sprinted back toward that direction.

Hyungwon mentally face-palmed himself. How did they walk all the way to the stairs, knowing that the 2400 hallway was actually five yards from their chemistry class? No one, especially not Jooheon and Hyungwon, would ever know.

\---

Hyungwon and Jooheon arrived at the right classroom on time.

Every breath they have taken from the start of the trip and after the end of the trip might have been heavy, and Jooheon might have been sweating buckets, but they did make it on time.

And luckily for Hyungwon, no one seemed to pay extra attention to him.

It was more like everyone was paying extra attention to Jooheon.

As soon as they had landed into the classroom for a few seconds, someone had tackled Jooheon from behind, and Hyungwon was surprised when the attack was brutal enough to bring Jooheon to the floor.

After a few moments passed - which seemed almost like an eternity to Hyungwon - giggles started to erupt from the two still remaining on the floor. Didn't Hyungwon just see a physical attack that knocked Jooheon to the floor? Why was no one concerned and instead gawking or even laughing at the sight?

A small boy, who Hyungwon thought he saw with the tackler, was smiling as he neared the couple of boys. He lent out a hand to Jooheon, squatting down a bit so Jooheon wouldn't have to stretch so far from the floor.

The small boy's expression turned more serious, though a small smirk remained on his face. "Come on, guys," he said, trying to help Jooheon from the floor, but the previously-known assaulter still remained on his back. The black-haired attacker look up at the petite classmate. Hyungwon noted that whoever was on Jooheon was trying to act serious, but ended up badly stifling his laughter.

"Changkyun-n-n~!" The attacker said, tightening his grip on Jooheon as he did so. Jooheon's face was straight at the floor, and Hyungwon guessed that the other muffled giggles were probably coming from him. The brunette continued, "You can't just ruin my fun between me and my bro!"

Hyungwon straightened out his posture.

Bro?

As in... brother?

The small boy, Changkyun, moved his hand forward closer to Jooheon. "Come on, guys, really. Class is about to start in a minute and Mr. Ganley could walk in at any time." Hyungwon thought he seemed too intimidating for such a small and young person. At least, he thought Changkyun was younger than them.

The boy related to Jooheon snorted loudly, but then released his grip of the red-head and got up from the floor. He jokingly rubbed the scuffs from the floor off his clothes while Jooheon got up, stretching as he did so.

Hyungwon stepped forward towards Jooheon. "Are you okay?" he said again, clutching his hands in front of him in slight worry.

Jooheon scoffed a bit, and waved his hand up and down to calm Hyungwon's nerves. "Yeah, I'm fine. That wimp can't even put a punch on me!" Jooheon proclaimed, jabbing his thumb toward his black-haired friend.

...or relative. That was still up in the air for Hyungwon.

Jooheon's possible brother punched him on the shoulder back in reply, holding a smirk which implied now that he couldn't possibly hurt Jooheon with serious intent.

Hyungwon questioned the black-haired one's sense of humor just a little bit.

Changkyun stepped up to the small friend circle that Hyungwon, Jooheon, and his friend made, facing Hyungwon specifically. Changkyun held his hand up towards the new students, making Hyungwon a little nervous for a new era of more potentially awkward social encounters. Changkyun decided to speak first. "Are you...?"

Hyungwon started to try and say that he was a new student, but couldn't really look Changkyun face-to-face. Jooheon saw the bit of awkwardness in Hyungwon situation, so he stepped in to help.

"Yeah, boy, of course!" Jooheon exclaimed while grinning, putting his arm around Hyungwon's shoulder, surprising Hyungwon a little in the process. "Smart and straight out of Korea. At least, I think so..." Jooheon turned to face Hyungwon, although his face was a little too close for Hyungwon's comfort. "...right?"

Hyungwon nodded slightly. "Yes," he said, while Jooheon let go of his grip on him.

"Oh, cool!" the black-haired friend said with a giant grin, which Hyungwon noticed that boy couldn't frown even if he wanted to. "I'm Minhyuk! That small boy over there is Changkyun," Minhyuk said, boldly pointing to the small boy mentioned.

Although Hyungwon thought he saw a bit of glare from Changkyun targeted at the now-known Minhyuk, Changkyun softly and quietly waved towards Hyungwon as a response. "I'm assuming you know Jooheon?" the small boy started.

Hyungwon smiled and nodded. He wanted to ask where he should sit, but right then, the bell had rang, and everyone that was previously out of their seats were suddenly rushing to find their seats. Jooheon grabbed Changkyun and Minhyuk's shoulders, motioning for them to find their seat too. Hyungwon didn't know what to do really, so he in turn followed the three boys to their table.

Minhyuk turned back to grab Hyungwon to bring him closer to the group. "This is going to be cool, new student!" Minhyuk said with a grin. "You can totally participate in our before-class antics if you want to!"

Hyungwon smiled in response, not really knowing how to respond to the truly positive Minhyuk. Minhyuk smiled even wider in response to Hyungwon's response.

Wow, he was happy.

When Jooheon and friends finally found their seats, Hyungwon moved near Jooheon himself, leaning forward to talk while he remained standing.

"Thank you," Hyungwon said, hopefully loud enough for Jooheon to here.

Jooheon turned to Hyungwon, adjusting his position to get comfortable in his seat while looking at Hyungwon face-to-face. "Oh, it's cool, bro! You don't have to thank me-"

"No, really," Hyungwon started again. "You helped me in the morning, you helped me just now... it seems rude not to thank you... personally."

Jooheon face lit up with a grin. "Oh, well in that case, no problem and thank you!" Jooheon then quickly looked towards the door, and motioned to the desk propped to the left of the whiteboard. "There's a rolly chair over there," Jooheon said, quieter than what he had said previously, "Pull one up and sit at the edge of our table... if you want to, of course."

Hyungwon nodded and turned to the direction of the desk in the front of the room, but then saw a big and tall giant enter the room. He must have been Mr. Ganley. Jooheon and friends didn't seem to be shaken by the teacher too much, but Hyungwon's nerves have returned to remind himself how tense he was.

Jooheon tugged at Hyungwon's sleeve, and Hyungwon turned back to the red-head. "That's our algebra teacher. You'll probably have to ask him about homework and stuff, since you're new."

Hyungwon started to walk to the front of the room again, but heard Jooheon whisper "hey!" from behind him, and turned a little back to see the red-head at least in his peripheral.

"He might look tall and scary, but he's not," Jooheon said from behind him. "He's actually pretty chill." He added a grin, and then cued Minhyuk and Changkyun to grin (though the smallest boy's grin was much less than the other two's).

Hyungwon nodded for the last time to Jooheon, and finally went on his official way to talk to the teacher.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and there are changkyun and minhyuk, feat. hyungwon being awkward and jooheon being a Chill Friend! hope you guys enjoy!


	4. Chapter 3 - Discovery

Hyungwon, for once, finally felt comfortable.

Jooheon was here, Jooheon's friends were here, the teacher seemed nice, and best of all...

Hyungwon easily understood all of the algebra.

The algebra class now was currently working on a review for their second unit, and that review in turn would help them study for their second unit's test. Hyungwon's dad, a math teacher, had previously tutor his son in mathematics higher than his grade level, nurturing Hyungwon that his tutoring would come to use someday.

For this very moment, Hyungwon thought, his dad's vigorous tutoring had finally come to use.

They were also working on a unit review regardless, so as long as Hyungwon was caught up enough with this American school's curriculum, his grade wouldn't be majorly skewed when compared to his classmates.

Mr. Ganley was nice enough to let Hyungwon sit where ever he wanted, so off he went as fast as humanly possible to Jooheon's group.

When he arrived at the table, he heard and saw Jooheon and Minhyuk... pretending to play woodwind instruments?

It was surprisingly well-kept in terms of rhythm and sound (for non-existent instruments, of course), but as Hyungwon could see from Changkyun's resistance to the noises coming right across from him, those two must have done it so loud very often.

Minhyuk noticed the presence of Hyungwon immediately, and quickly ceased his imaginary music playing. "Hi again!" Minhyuk said, beaming a giant smile. He suddenly snorted while briefly glancing at Jooheon, and then proceeded to guess at Hyungwon's name.

"H-Hyunwoo, right?" Minhyuk questioned, while Jooheon snorted in the most extravagant possible way that Hyungwon had ever seen. "Minhyuk," Jooheon started to say, "Hyungwon's not buff enough to be Hyunwoo!" They continued to giggle and snort even more, even hitting their fist on the table a bit. However, the table behind where Jooheon was sitting glanced back at them, nearly burning into their flesh with anger. The two quickly went silent.

"Gosh," Changkyun started, catching everyone off guard from the consistent silence he had participated in for the first fifteen minutes of class. "Is this what band does to people?" Changkyun asked again, looking towards the two for their response. Hyungwon thought that he seemed like he was joking, but also not joking at the same time.

Hyungwon sat down in the rolly chair that he carried along with him from the front of the class. He was utterly confused in the conversation, but he hoped that him actually joining the conversation would hopefully get them to explain.

Minhyuk straightened up his back, pride seemingly emitting from his body. "Well, I guess when you blow into your instrument that much, you gain a ton of hot air over the course of the school year," he said smoothly, while Jooheon again snorted and giggled, seemingly quieter this time.

The small boy rolled his eyes, and turned his attention to Hyungwon. "I'm sorry," Changkyun said, "They talk about band all the time. Like, 99 percent of class."

Band, Hyungwon thought. Like, marching band?

Jooheon stopped giggling finally, and proceeded to turn to Hyungwon as well, with Minhyuk following quickly behind. Jooheon face was filled with some surprise, and Hyungwon saw, maybe a bit of embarrassment?

"Sorry, Hyung!" Jooheon said with some exasperation. "I didn't mean to geek out as much as this nerd over here." The red-head jabbed his thumb at his black-haired band sidekick, while Changkyun proceeded to roll his eyes even more. Hyungwon could feel the sigh the small boy wanted to produce so much.

Minhyuk slapped Jooheon's thumb out of the way. "Hey!~" Minhyuk uttered, "I might be smart, but I'm definitely not a nerd." Hyungwon glanced over at the black-haired boy, moving his eyes up and down at Minhyuk's confidence with him crossing his arms and such. Hyungwon's regular vocabulary didn't consist of the word "nerd," but Minhyuk's buttoned-up, collared sweater and level-cut bangs fit his image of a bookwormy, science-obsessed, anti-social, and, yes, smart nerd.

The fact that Hyungwon had a few of these qualities made a shiver go down his spine. He didn't want Jooheon calling him a nerd in public.

Hyungwon snapped out of his thoughts when Minhyuk snapped his attention back at him. "Wait, are you in band, too?" Minhyuk loudly stated, inching closer to Hyungwon as Hyungwon's head instinctively moved farther from the incoming band nerd. He practically had stars in his eyes. Really cute, sparkly stars.

"That'd be so cool!-"

Changkyun put his hand on Minhyuk's forehead and slightly pushed him back to where he came from. "Minhyuk, he wouldn't be in band. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so confused as to what you and Jooheon are talking about," the small boy said, putting his other hand squarely under his chin.

Minhyuk's excited face softened a little. "Oh, yeah, I gotcha, Kyun," Minhyuk said, his hand placed closely underneath his jawline as if he was profusely thinking. He then snapped his fingers, as if a realization had suddenly peeked through. His snapping index finger then moved to point toward Hyungwon's face. "But...," Minhyuk hesitated a bit, "maybe in his old city, band wasn't as popular? I'd probably forget how enthusiastic Korean kids are about band, but I'm pretty sure they're less enthusiastic about band as we are!" Minhyuk's finger originally pointed at Hyungwon was now pointing at the ceiling, as the black-haired boy stood on his chair, one leg positioned on his desk.

The rest of the class loudly shushed him, however, resulting in Minhyuk quietly, and shyly, sitting back down in his seat.

Hyungwon decided to finally speak up about the matter. "I... I'm not in band. I take orchestra, actually." He tugged at his scarf, and smiled when he finally felt his nerves calm down... again.

Jooheon, Minhyuk, and Changkyun looked at him in surprise, with Changkyun's expression the most expressive expression from the small boy that Hyungwon had ever seen.

"WHAT, REALLY?!"

Hyungwon was startled by the three boys' loud statement seemingly in perfect unison.

Changkyun moved even closer to Hyungwon, his eyes lighting up almost as Minhyuk's had done before. "You're in orchestra! That actually makes sense," Changkyun exclaimed, whilst scooting back to give Hyungwon some space, returning to his more calm demeanor. "What instrument do you play?"

"Uh," Hyungwon was caught off-guard from the sudden question. "Cello! I play the cello."

Jooheon moved closer to the center of the table, whilst Minhyuk was still in dismay (and maybe a little disappointed?) right beside the red-head. "Ha!" Jooheon declared, "I didn't think you'd play an instrument sitting down, Hyungwon! You know... because of how tall you are."

True, Hyungwon thought, he himself was tall compared to most everyone near him, especially the small boys currently sitting as his table. However, Hyungwon remembered his opinion of any negatives from playing the cello were completely overshadowed by the positives. The cello has a nice sound, anyone who plays the cello sits down for every playing session instead of standing up like the other stringed instruments, and a cellist's body was never turned to the audience in a performance but a regular string orchestra. Hyungwon appreciated the lack of attention cellos get sometimes.

Minhyuk's mouth still stayed agape (in an almost over-exaggerated, playful way), though he seemed almost ready to speak up. Before he could however, Changkyun excitedly interrupted Minhyuk.

"Hyung... won," Changkyun said slowly, the name creeping up from his short-term memory, "Do you happen to have orchestra next period, after lunch, by any chance?"

Hyungwon nodded, a little nervously, as he saw Changkyun smile widely, just like Jooheon and Minhyuk when they were in their own trumpet-revolving world. A soft smile still remained on Hyungwon's face, however, as the new information that someone else he knew was going to be in another one of his classes.

Changkyun giggled at the confirmation of Hyungwon's schedule, and started to talk faster than Hyungwon could even understand.

"Dude," Changkyun said, right before taking a deep breath, "Orchestra here is super fun, like, super fun, and there's a ton of people, but not like an overwhelming amount of people. They're all super nice, and our teacher's nice and super, super cool and smart, but he's kinda weird, so here me out-"

Hyungwon had started to zone out a little at this point. Changkyun talked faster than Hyungwon could ever think to imagine.

"He's like," the small boy continued, "the best orchestra teacher though so don't here me wrong. He's just super precise, but not too precise, do you get what I mean, and he also has a ton of obscure interests, also? BUT! There are so many friends you'll make there, like Priya, she's super sweet and nice, and she plays. So. Good. Like wow-"

Hyungwon smiled, hearing the fact that his sweet chemistry partner would be in another class with him. But he narrowed down that information by only hearing Priya's name, instead of paying attention to the context of Changkyun's fast words.

"Oh, dUDE!~ I forgot to mention the first violins! BRO. THEY'RE. SO. GOOD." Changkyun accentuated how good they were but clapping his hands to matching the dramatic timing of his rambling. Hyungwon was pretty sure he saw Jooheon sweating from the corner of his eye.

"Our best violin is super great, he's like sooo good. And he's such a nice person, but he has a funny, sarcastic, and salty side to him too!" Changkyun was practically presenting an interpretive dance to the whole table. "Ah~, he's everything I crave to be! Did I mention so many girls love him, like, a LOT?"

Minhyuk stood up straighter in his chair, his arms crossed, and his face a little stern. "What's his name?" Minhyuk asked.

Changkyun was super enthusiastic, and Hyungwon noticed the other tables had starting paying attention to him, even the teacher too. Everyone seemed to be focused on Changkyun's nerd-fest.

"Good question!" Changkyun giggled again. "His name is-!"

The loudspeakers suddenly came on, startling Hyungwon again, and now Changkyun. The small boy's face turned from an eager face back to his normal placid one, as he looked up at the ceiling just a little annoyed. Hyungwon made a mental note not to abruptly interrupt any of Changkyun's future nerd-fests.

"Hello!" The loudspeaker emitted, with a happy girl's voice echoing a little bit through the classroom. "Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance!"

A few groans were heard throughout the room, as the class in unison stood up with their right hands over their chests, Mr. Ganley included. Hyungwon quickly followed suit, and then turned to look at the rest of his table group.

Hyungwon saw Jooheon leaning towards Changkyun, the smallest boy giving off an uncomfortable and an irked vibe.

"So," Jooheon said silently, a sarcastic tone in his voice, "is this what orchestra does to people?"

Hyungwon turned away just when Changkyun loudly sighed, earning a "ssshhh" and a warning from the teacher. Even though Hyungwon was excited for what Changkyun said about orchestra, he could help but smirk a little bit.

Hyungwon's heart felt warmer after thinking that orchestra was only about an hour away.

Priya would be there, Changkyun would be there, the weird teacher would be there...

...and that mysterious first violin would be there.

He hoped Changkyun would elaborate on him after the moment of silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> turns out all of hyungwon's new friends are nerd. what a surprise lol. hope you enjoy!!


	5. Chapter 4 - Back in Gwangju

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so that's all of the pre-written chapters i had posted on wattpad! hopefully the next chapter won't take months (rip) but i'm aiming to get the new chapter up in three weeks maybe?? hopefully :0

Hyungwon woke up when he heard the bell ring and felt a hand thrust his shoulder forward.

And it wasn't just a casual nudge on the shoulder, it was a great shove. Like, an almost-nearly-popped-his-shoulder kind of shove.

Hyungwon was about to confront the guy who shoved him until a head popped up from his peripheral vision. A head with raven-colored hair and sparkly, dark eyes of the same color were soon right in front of Hyungwon.

Hyungwon's sleep-deprivedness just might have recognized it was indeed Minhyuk in front of him, but his eyesight was blurry enough to suggest it was some other Korean boy he'd meet later at this school. Maybe if he would wake up later at a decent time he would figure out-

"ANNYOUNG, HYUNGWONIE!~"

Oh, that was probably Minhyuk.

Hyungwon saw the head from back up from where it came from, his eyesight following where it was going. Eventually, Hyungwon's back was nearly sideways, his head looking up at Minhyuk and Minhyuk looking straight back down at him. He was about to ask him what he was doing and why he was here, but then Minhyuk greeted him with a slightly-aggressive noogie.

"Sleepy Hyung~, it's lunch," Minhyuk said, ruffling Hyungwon's hair back and forth, "did you eat something yet?"

"Uugh," Hyungwon replied, sitting up a bit not to strain his neck and back too much. Minhyuk moved closer in response to support Hyungwon's tall weight, still noogieing Hyungwon's head.

"Ah, Minhyuk!" Hyungwon yelled, pushing the dark-haired boy's arms out of his personal space. "You're fine, but... you're... touching my head a little bit too hard. I just woke up..."

Minhyuk blushed, letting his arms fall down to his sides. "Oops! I'm sorry!" Minhyuk said in response, while sitting down next to Hyungwon... on a bench?

Hyungwon looked around to actually take his surroundings in. There was a lot of students here, sitting down, standing up, walking, everywhere Hyungwon looked. They all had trays and cloth boxes filled with... food? Hyungwon's vision was still a bit blurry.

"Hyungwon?" Minhyuk uttered, placing his fingers under Hyungwon's chin, turning it slightly so that the two would make eye contact.

Hyungwon blushed at the sudden fragileness of Minhyuk's touch, not to mention the slight concern, with a slight smirk, on the dark-haired boy's face. The realization of where they were and what everyone was doing finally hit Hyungwon, the pain from Minhyuk's knuckles before suddenly becoming a little more apparent.

"You said it was lunch time?"

Minhyuk's smile grew wide. "Correct! I don't know what you did before you started sleeping, but I was walking through the hallways and saw you napping on this table!" Hyungwon decided Minhyuk maybe was a little too happy about finding Hyungwon vulnerable, but then the concern originally on Minhyuk's face from before returned.

"You didn't answer my question yet, though," Minhyuk said, his head tilting a bit to the right, his hair following with a slight motion.

"Oh... right," Hyungwon replied, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I didn't... since I was sleeping."

Minhyuk got up and tugged Hyungwon's arm for him to follow suit. "Let's get some lunch then! As long as you have money on your account, you should be fine!"

"Money?" Hyungwon asked. "...In my account?" He turned toward the raven-haired boy.

"Aish~, I'll just give you some of my lunch then," Minhyuk exasperatedly said, tugging Hyungwon a little bit more to pick up their speed. "Pork barbecue with rice is fine, right?"

"Yes." Hyungwon turned to Minhyuk one more time. "I also have another question?"

"Lay it on me, Hyung!"

Hyungwon took a second to make sure he said the sentence clearly. "Do you... know where the orchestra room is?"

"Yeah, of course! What'd you need it for?"

"..."

"...Um, I'll just accompany you throughout the rest of lunch for now on."

Hyungwon finally looked completely awake for once this hour. "Please do."

\---

The two were finally sat in front of the fine arts hallway, sharing Minhyuk's aforementioned pork barbecue with rice. It wasn't Korean barbecue, like Hyungwon originally thought; the Texan hickory taste paired with the steak sauce was extremely prevalent in the meat, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Why'd you pair it with rice, Minhyuk? It's not like it's bulgogi," Hyungwon asked.

Minhyuk exaggeratedly gasped, putting a hand over his heart. "You can put sticky, white rice with anything! Bulgogi or not bulgogi." Minhyuk then took a break from his acting and relaxed his posture. "Don't you like it, though?"

"Yeah, of course!" Hyungwon added, perhaps a little too quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you..."

"Ah, Hyungwon, you could never offend me," Minhyuk replied.

Even though Minhyuk accepted his apology, Hyungwon cheek's still felt warm from the embarrassment.

After that whole endeavor, the two chatted and chatted to pass the time. Hyungwon discovered many things about Minhyuk in those 15 to 30 minutes: how he plays the flute in the school marching band, how he and Jooheon come from way back (and were not some creepy, conjoined twins that Hyungwon may have originally thought), and how he originally came from Gwangju all the way to Texas in the second grade, easing his way into the states with all the good food Texas had and with all the cool, new things not in South Korea.

Hyungwon's mouth became slightly agape. "You're from Gwangju, too?"

"Mm-hmm," Minhyuk said, mouth full with pulled pork. He swallowed first before continuing his response, which Hyungwon found polite for someone of a loud nature. "I don't really remember everything about the city like I used to. I guess that goes to show how much the states can change you."

Hyungwon's body, even though he himself didn't notice it, became tense at Minhyuk's words.

"But!" Minhyuk continued abruptly, noticing Hyungwon's discomfort, "It was definitely a weird time adjusting to all the... American culture. Like even in the south, there's so much diversity here." Minhyuk looked down, seemingly finding interest it what remained of his pork and rice. "I thought the only other Korean kid I would know was my brother."

Hyungwon scooted closer to the raven-haired, trying to comfort while also trying to not be awkward.

Minhyuk then scooted back towards Hyungwon, and leaned his head onto to the taller one's shoulder, "But I made a ton of friends, Korean and non-Korean. Excluding Jooheon, who is my best bestie friend foreves," Hyungwon cringed adamantly while Minhyuk giggled, "there were, and will be, tons of approachable people, Hyungwon. You've already made friends with Changkyun too, super fast even! And Changkyun is the smallest and quietest of them all!" Minhyuk ceased his leaning on Hyungwon's shoulder and stood up straight, returning to his excited nature.

"Heck, I know you'll bond with Hyunwoo, Hoseok, and Kihyun, and you haven't even met them yet!"

Hyungwon suddenly heard a distant "aah!" sound through the growing crowd of high school students, and suddenly, a fairly small, pink-haired boy with glasses emerged from the giant bubble of people.

The pink-haired boy quickly glanced at Minhyuk. "Minhyuk, I... I heard my name?" The pink-haired boy's voice was not was Hyungwon was expecting. It was not high but not at all deep either and it had a polite air to it that reminded him of a motherly sweetness. Or like strawberries, either of the two worked.

Minhyuk waved his hand at him kind of dismissively, and the pink-haired boy's face suddenly scrunched, like he had eaten a sour strawberry. Maybe he found it rude?, Hyungwon thought. I guess he was like a mother, or at least, like Hyungwon's mother.

"I was just talking to Hyungwon about our friend group. He just came to the US about a week ago from Gwangju." Minhyuk motioned his hand to Hyungwon with appropriate timing to communicate to the pink-haired boy.

"Oh!" The pink-haired boy's sweet, strawberry nature returned as he turned to Hyungwon.

"Mannaseo bangapseumnida, Hyungwon-ssi. Je ireum-eun Kihyun-imnida." He quickly replied, which got Hyungwon a little off-guard of how the pink-haired boy, Kihyun, had been glaring lasers into Minhyuk's eyes a few seconds ago.

"Um..." Hyungwon started, but Kihyun spoke before he could finish.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Kihyun kneeled down apologetically in frustration. "My Korean's a bit rusty, I'm sorry..."

"Dude," Minhyuk said, way more straightforward and deadpan than usual, "He can speak, write, and understand English. You're fine."

Kihyun's eyes widened open in realization, and then proceeded to close when he quickly dropped to the floor, in more frustration. "Gah, you gotta tell me these things sooner, Minhyuk! And not to mention passing period starts-"

The bell rung, queuing everyone in the visible area to scatter to any open door available.

Kihyun sighed. "Now..." The pink-haired boy then looked up at the two of them, and then turned his attention to Hyungwon. "It's nice to meet you, Hyungwon, but I have to speed to choir to have a few minutes to talk to a friend before class starts-"

Minhyuk's eyebrow raised and a smirk returned to his visage. "Don't you mean your boyfriend-"

Kihyun suddenly glared knives into Minhyuk's now-weary gaze. "Shush you!" He stood up, still staring at Minhyuk. "You can introduce Hyungwon more in-depth at DFC, if he comes of course."

He then sprinted into the now-officially-open fine arts hallway, but before entering the first door to his right like Hyungwon thought he would, the pink-haired turned back with a gummy smile and waved at the two. "Bye guys! See you later!"

His waving moved then changed to an urging motion. "Get up so you two aren't late to class, jeez!" He then turned back to the choir room, and like that, he was gone.

Hyungwon was helped by Minhyuk to stand up and the two proceeded into the fine arts hallway, after stretching from sitting in the same place for too long. Minhyuk held Hyungwon's hand until they reached the orchestra room and then let go with a "see you later" and started walking further into the hallway. Band room, Hyungwon assumed.

Before entering the room, however, Hyungwon got the urge to walk to Minhyuk and tap on his shoulder. Minhyuk turned to Hyungwon, a confused and admittedly cute expression on his face.

"What's up?" Minhyuk asked.

"Um," Hyungwon tried not to look at the floor, but his gaze flickered up and down to ignore the growing warm flush of pink on his face. "Thanks. For the story... and the lunch."

"Oh, no problem, Hyung~!" Minhyuk then continued his walk to the band room, or at least tried to, until Hyungwon tapped his shoulder again.

"Also," Hyungwon started again, as Minhyuk turned his attention toward him again. "What's... DFC?"

"It's dance practice, to put it short," the raven-haired replied. "You can ask Changkyun or Hoseok about it later, though! Class is about to start and the band director might just kill me if I'm too late." Minhyuk then saluted to the tall boy, and sprinted off through the hallway.

Hyungwon waved back, but one, lingering question become fresh in his mind.

Who's... Hoseok?

Following his instincts (and goody-goody nature), Hyungwon then proceeded back to the orchestra room to find out.


	6. Chapter 5 - Poco a Poco

Hyungwon stepped into the classroom with caution.

It was good he stepped in with caution, because the orchestra room was seemingly crowded with people. And… the teacher was nowhere in sight. Great.

Hyungwon sighed before getting a pat on the shoulder from behind. Hyungwon turned around almost in panic, but his anxiety eased when he saw the small frame of Priya attached to the hand that patted his shoulder. Looking up a bit, he also found Changkyun walking into his peripheral. 

“Oh! ...Hey guys,” Hyungwon said, waving at the two with a small smile. “It’s nice to see you.”

Priya’s smile grew. “It’s nice to see you, too!”

Changkyun’s smile grew as well, but seemingly mirroring a smile of the devil more than Priya’s. “Everyone’s been dying to see you-” The small boy was interrupted by Priya softly punching him in the shoulder.

“Uh, ow!”

“Come on, Daniel, he’s stressed enough!” Priya replied while turning to glare at the demon spawn. Hyungwon self-consciously dried his palms on his jeans, cleaning off the sweat that seemed to accumulate from the five minutes of walking into the classroom.

Hearing Changkyun called “Daniel” enough was already catching him off guard enough, but then he saw someone staring straight in the group’s direction.

A pale teenager with silver hair was fast-walking in their direction, and Hyungwon thought he Changkyun was enough to deal with.

Luckily for Hyungwon, however, the silver-haired man (Huh, he has blue highlights, too, Hyungwon thought. It was a wonder how him and strawberry boy were not getting dress coded every step they walk through the building) aimed to get Priya’s attention, as he began tapping lightly on her shoulder. He looked a little stressed out, despite how he presented himself, with his ripped jeans and rubber bracelets laced with American band logos (or British, Hyungwon didn’t know for sure).

Priya turned to glance at the silver-haired boy, glanced back at Changkyun, and then glanced back at the silver-haired boy while jumping a little bit backwards when she seemingly realized who it was. “Oh, Hoseok! What do you need?” she asked.

The boy’s stress didn’t get amplified, per se, but he did give a sheepish grin to the group. “Ah, it’s nothing much, Priya,” he said, straightening his back from his previous hunched position to match the girl’s height, “I just wanted you and Changkyun and…”

The silver-haired boy turned to Hyungwon. “I’m sorry, I need to meet you properly, but Mr. Mariani is bound to come here anytime soon and the whole class needs to set up and I’m kind of the first violin not to brag but I feel like I have to be responsible and get everyone settled and set up and tuning and-”

Hyungwon was just about to process what the silver-haired boy, Hoseok, said until he could hear a door opening, causing everyone in the class to fall silent.

Hoseok turned towards the door, a sweat drop falling down the side of his face. Hyungwon noted that even though sweaty and stressed, his profile was really good.

Wait… why was he suddenly focused on someone’s appearance now, the teacher was probably going to yell at the whole class!

The teacher, now confirmed present in the doorway, stood silent glaring at the classroom. Even though no words were uttered, a sigh from the teacher was enough to get every student, including Priya, Changkyun, and Hoseok, to scramble to their respective seats and sections with their bows and instruments ready to rosin and tune.

The teacher still seemed a little ticked off, but a sight of the lone Hyungwon standing in the middle of the empty space of the orchestra room instrument-less, the teacher scurried over to shake Hyungwon’s hand, much to Hyungwon’s surprise.

“Hello, sorry for the late introduction,” Mr. Mariani started, “but you must be…”

“Hyungwon! Chae Hyungwon,” Hyungwon said. He would have been calmer and less embarrassed of his Korean pronunciation slipping out if the whole class wasn’t just… staring at him. Or staring at the teacher. It made no difference. He couldn’t even see the class and he could feel the judgement!

“Ugh,” the teacher sighed to himself, “the class must be…” he raised his voice for the whole orchestra to hear, “VERY distracted from your appearance, Hyungwon. Or, do you go by something else-”

“No sir, just Hyungwon. Hyungwon… Hyungwon Chae. Yes,” Hyungwon replied, quicker and more awkward than he originally intended to.

Mr. Mariani nodded his head in reply and turned to get the attention of the whole class, “You guys warm up while I get Hyungwon ready!” he said with a smirk. The class first cut the room’s silence with a soft bow of a viola’s A string, and gradually every instruments’ sound begun to take up the whole room. However, even with the instruments covering most of the sound of conversation among classmates, Hyungwon could swear he heard Hoseok’s relieved sigh from the violin section.

“I got word that you were a cello player, so the school cellos are over there on the right,” Mr. Mariani said, pointing to the cello area with Hyungwon carefully listening. “Just borrow one and sit in the empty chair by Lyra over there,” Mr. Mariani further stated while pointing his finger in the opposite direction at the cello section with Hyungwon still carefully listening. “I usually explain the normal procedure during class, but she can help elaborate on any instructions if you need any clarification. Do you have any questions now?”

“No, sir,” Hyungwon quietly replied with a quick nod.

“Alright!” Mr. Mariani said with a pat on Hyungwon’s back. “Get to it!”

Hyungwon got to it, in a quick fashion. The class’ attention was not completely off him just yet, but Hoseok and Priya’s supportive smiles and Changkyun’s finger heart in his direction were able to reassure him for at least the beginning of class.

\---

Orchestra was surprisingly comfortable for the most part. Lyra, a seemingly quiet girl in nature, managed to help Hyungwon understand the mechanics of Mr. Mariani’s class, by showing where to access the music and tuner and how to avoid to get called on to play an excerpt of the music in front of the class. Hyungwon was glad he got paired with her, to be honest. They connected through their silence pretty easily.

Although, Hyungwon was surprised of the loud nature of orchestra, aside from the instruments playing music, of course.

After the class warmed up and turned their attention to the director, Mr. Mariani sat down and, instead of getting the orchestra ready to play music, booted up his computer to go through the announcements. The announcements, Changkyun whispered to Hyungwon, were a daily occurence and lasted for ten minutes minimum and almost an hour maximum.

And to think Hyungwon was already overwhelmed.

The announcements mentioned the overwhelming amount of events the members of the orchestra had to participate in: the many socials planned after school, the many volunteer opportunities to set up other schools in the district, the region and state competition, and the concert that was in a month.

A month. Hyungwon seemingly forgot the commitment attributed to high school fine arts programs somewhere from the move to America. He wanted to let out a big Hoseok sigh.

...Speaking of Hoseok, Hoseok was the first violin Changkyun was talking about. Huh. He does seem like how Changkyun originally described him.

When the class was in announcement mode - which doubled as class discussion mode basically - Hoseok would always chip in with comments and answers, usually with the gummy smile that Hyungwon started to get used to.

Hoseok was just… so charismatic, so inviting, Hyungwon couldn’t help the urge to glance at him to see what he was doing. He was always fidgeting in his seat, or mouthing something to the first chair cello, or laughing at some comment a classmate or the director said. Hoseok was too pure, that Hyungwon couldn’t help but feel at ease when the whole class was at ease with Hoseok’s presence basically.

Hoseok was also very awkward too, which encouraged Hyungwon’s curiosity in befriending the newly-introduced first violin.

When the orchestra actually started playing the assigned music, Hoseok was concentrating incredibly hard on Mr. Mariani and what he was saying, contrasting to how calm and lax he was during class announcements. He also had a solo too, and Hyungwon could see the sweat beads returning on Hoseok’s forehead.

...Maybe he was thinking of Hoseok too much. Hyungwon had messed up a whole measure of syncopated notes seemingly because he was focusing on Hoseok’s arms. Oh no, Mr. Mariani was glancing at him now. Focus, focus…

Hoseok’s sleeveless arms returned to Hyungwon’s mind. He didn’t mess up on a whole measure of notes like last time, but he was the only one to play on the rest out of the entire classroom. The class abrupted in laughter, Hyungwon’s cheeks getting immensely redder.

Mr. Mariani ceased the class’ laughter with a swift motion of his hand. The director than proceeded to turn to the cello section, eyes in contact with Hyungwon’s. 

“It’s your first day, Hyungwon, there’s no need to be rough on you. Just fix your mistakes until each measure is flawless, alright?”

Hyungwon nodded incredibly quickly. “Yes, of course, sir!”

Hyungwon glanced at the violin section for the last time that day. Hoseok and Priya were smiling at him with sympathy. Hyungwon swore he could feel a fever coming on.

“You okay, hyung?” Changkyun whispered in Korean, making sure not to catch the attention of the rest of the class. “You’re kinda red-”

Hyungwon quietly and nervously laughed. “Don’t mention it, Changkyun-”

“Are you sure?” Changkyun replied, nearing closer to Hyungwon, “because it was really funny to catch you staring at Hoseok-hyung, hyung-”

“I’m sorry,” Hyungwon started, turning his head towards Changkyun’s direction. “I meant… ‘Don’t mention it, Daniel-’”

Changkyun punched him softly in the shoulder and backed away to return near his bass.

“And to think I was nice enough to speak in Korean to cover up your obvious crush on Hoseok-hyung,” Hyungwon heard Changkyun mutter with bitterness coating his words.

Hyungwon wouldn’t be able to admit it, but the mention of Hoseok was enough for Hyungwon to ignore further getting angry at Changkyun’s teasing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahh I haven't updated in so long! but Hoseok's here, and the story might be actually going somewhere lol

**Author's Note:**

> sshhh I kinda wrote this semi-seriously but ye, i'll post the chapters I already have on wattpad over a few days from now! hopefully it's somewhat good tho ;;;


End file.
